PETERSBURG — A collection of 10 classic cars was destroyed Thursday when a building on the southern edge of Petersburg went up in flames.

Mike Bell, one of the owners of the building, said he and his family have been collecting and restoring the vehicles for about 40 years. Among those destroyed were a Model A Ford, 1946 Chevrolet pickup, 1963 Buick Riviera, two 1962 Chevrolet Impalas and a 1977 Pontiac Grand Prix.

“One of the big things is that the Pontiac was one of our dad's favorite cars. I restored it a couple of years ago, and now it's gone,” Bell said.

Thursday's fire broke out a little before 11 a.m. The metal building is along Illinois 97, which was closed while firefighters battled the blaze.

Capt. Jared Williams of the Petersburg Fire Department said they arrived to find flames shooting out the garage doors and roof. Since no one was believed to be in the building and it was fully engulfed in flames, they did not send any firefighters inside due to safety concerns.

“There were all kinds of accelerants and fuel inside the building,” Williams said. “There is no sense in risking life and safety on content.”

Larry Graf, chief of Menard County Emergency Medical Services, said he heard multiple explosions coming from the interior of the burning building.

There was only one fire hydrant nearby, but it wasn't able to supply enough water to sufficiently fight the fire. To compensate, firefighters used tankers to truck in water.

“There was a hydrant, but the flow wasn't enough for the water we needed,” Williams said.

He said the call for help came in at 10:52 a.m., and the first units arrived at 11:02 a.m. A 10-minute response time is about average for a call at that time of day on a weekday, he said.

Surrounding fire departments were called in to assist the Petersburg firefighters.

Dave Leischner, a trustee for the Petersburg Rural Fire Department, said the lack of a mutual aid agreement with the city, which would have immediately dispatched his firefighters, delayed the callout for his department. He said they were less than a mile away, suited up and ready to roll, but it took about 50 minutes for them to get the call.

If they had gotten the call earlier, they could have been at the scene well before firefighters from other nearby towns, Leischner said. He added that his department does have mutual aid agreements with other nearby departments and has tried to work out an agreement with Petersburg officials.

Petersburg Mayor John Stiltz said the city is waiting for the rural department to approve a water agreement with the city before they put together a mutual aid agreement.

Page 2 of 2 - Officials are calling in the state fire marshal's office to investigate the cause of the fire. Thunderstorms accompanied by strong lightning had passed through the area earlier in the morning.

Eight of the 10 cars destroyed in the fire had been restored.

“Not only did we have the cars in there, we also had antique pedal cars,” Bell said. “We had a bunch of other stuff you can't replace.”